Hello from Niamey! Yeees, we are in the capital of Niger. Which is – by the way – also called capital “de chaleur” (of the heat). We are around 40 degrees Celsius plus the hot dry Sahel-wind. Yesterday, we visited the famous giraffes 62 Kilometers from Niamey. These giraffe-herds are the last free and wild ones in West Africa. Over 500 animals live in the wild spaces around the village Kouré.
We left Niamey early in the morning with three cars incuding drivers. The importance of the drivers was shown once we were in the terrain: driving over stones, sand and through wild bush-land was a challenge - even for experienced drivers. After one hour drive from Niamey, we reached the center of the association that protects the giraffes. After a short presentation of the team, we started our search for the giraffes. After a relatively short time, we came across a young herd but they were not in the mood to welcome visitors, so they disappeared quite quickly. Later in the afternoon, we were incredible lucky. Our guides, who were comfortable on the roof of our car, found another herd out of 19 animals, including very youuung ones. In the afternoon, we took the road back to Niamey – all very satisfied and happy.
